Iraq tops Vietnam for journalist deaths | The Australian

Iraq tops Vietnam for journalist deaths | The Australian: "THE Iraq war has been the most lethal for journalists since World War II, with 230 journalists and media staff killed since the conflict broke out.

The figures, compiled by french-based international press freedom organisation Reporters Sans Frontieres (ReportersWithout Borders) run from March 20, 2003 until the present day.

The figure is more than the number killed in 20 years of the Vietnam War or during the Algerian civil war, RSF said.

The latest fatality was 35-year-old Al Iraqiya TV journalist Riyad Assariyeh, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen as he left his home in Baghdad this week.

RSF said that 'clearly targeted murder'' brought to 15 the number of Al Iraqiya journalists killed since coalition forces removed Saddam Hussein from power.

'Reporters Without Borders calls for a proper investigation capable of identifying and arresting both the perpetrators and instigators of this murder and bringing them to justice,'' the organization said in a statement.

'It would be deplorable if this killing were to go unpunished, which unfortunately has been the case in 99 per cent of the 230 murders of journalists and media workers since the US-led invasion in 2003.''

Two weeks after the US Army withdrew its last combat brigade from Iraq, RSF has released a report examining what impact seven years of occupation by coalition forces has had on press freedom.

Called 'The Iraq War: A Heavy Death Toll for the Media', the report also looks at the issue of journalist abductions during the war.

With more than 93 media professionals kidnapped, Iraq was for several years the biggest market for hostages in the world.

The report said about 30 journalists had been arrested by the US Army between March 2003 and August 2010, most of them in 2008.

'By early January 2006, Camp Bucca, the American detention centre in southern Iraq between the cities of Basra and Uum Qasr, had become the biggest prison for journalists in the Middle East,'' it said.